1. Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuse connection box used for internal wiring of an automobile and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a fuse connection box of the related art. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 10 represents a plastic housing, 12 a protective cover connected to the housing 10 through hinges 14, 16 a fuse (plate fuse), 16A an input terminal of a fuse 16, 16B an output terminal of a fuse 16 (there is no distinction between an input terminal and output terminal in a fuse, but for convenience in explanation, 16A is made the input terminal and 16B the output terminal), 18 an input side wire, and 20 an output side wire.
As illustrated, the fuse connection box of the related art is formed with a one-piece housing 10. On the other hand, input side wires 18 and output side wires 20 are produced by different processes. The assembly into the housing is also performed as a different process.
FIG. 1 shows the state of an input side terminal (not shown) attached to an end of the input side wire 18 assembled in the housing.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 2, an output side terminal (not shown) attached to an end of the output side wire 20 is assembled in the housing 10. By attaching the fuses 16 and covering the assembly with the protective cover 12 in this state, the fuse connection box is completed.
As explained above, since the input side wires 18 and the output side wires 20 are produced by separate processes and are assembled in the housing 10 by a separate process, the output side wires 20 to be later attached to the housing 10 (sometimes the input side wires 18 as well) have to have the output side terminals attached to their ends covered by protective bags 24 as shown in FIG. 3 to prevent short-circuits or other problems in the output side terminals attached to the ends in the period from production to assembly in the housing 10. Further, the bags 24 had to be removed when assembling the output side terminals 22 in the housing 10.
In this way, the fuse connection box of the related art required bags 24 for protecting the terminals of the ends of the wires to be attached to the housing later. It suffers from the disadvantage that time is taken for the bags 24 to be attached and removed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fuse connection box and a method of producing the same which enable efficient assembly without requiring protective bags.
To achieve this object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there in provided a fuse connection box comprised of a fuse and a housing for attaching the fuse, wherein said housing is divided into a first side housing in which a first side terminal of an end of a first side wire is assembled and a second side housing in which a second side terminal of an end of a second side wire is assembled, the first side housing and second side housing have portions for engagement with each other, and the first side housing and the second side housing are engaged to form a single housing in which the fuse can be attached.
By configuring the fuse connection box in this way, the fuse connection box can be assembled by separately assembling the first side terminal attached to the end of the first side wire into the first side housing and assembling the second side terminal attached to the end of the second side wire into the second side housing, then connecting the first side housing and second side housing. Therefore, the bags for protection of the terminals used in the past become unnecessary and assembly can be performed efficiently.
Preferably, the first side housing and the second side housing are of identical shapes having first engagement portions at one end in the direction of arrangement of fuses and having second engagement portions of shapes engaging with the first engagement portions at the other end.
By doing this, since the first side housing and second side housing can be produced by the same mold, the cost becomes cheaper. Further, since there is no need to differentiate between the first side housing and second side housing, part control becomes easy.
Preferably, there is further provided a protective cover attached to the first side housing and second side housing so as to cover the fuse in a state where the first side housing and the second side housing are connected and the fuse is attached.
Preferably, the protective cover is formed with a protective frame for preventing action of an external force on an engagement portion between the protective cover and the first side housing and second side housing.
This is preferable to prevent the protective cover from detaching.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a fuse connection box including a fuse and a housing for attaching the fuse, comprising the steps of producing separately a first side housing in which a first side terminal of an end of a first side wire is assembled and having an engagement portion and a second side housing in which a second side terminal of an end of a second side wire is assembled and having an engagement portion, engaging the engagement portions of the first side housing and second side housing to join them, and attaching a fuse to the joined housing.